Eric's Mulholland Maiden

Up until this point, I had been making the most of a poor budget, but after being hired with a big boy job right out of college, things started looking up. So, I placed an order…


After much deliberation, I decided on ASA GT-5’s in 17x8, 42 offset. I ordered another set of Continental DW’s to wrap them in; this time in 225/45/17. I had these tires on my stock wheels and loved them, so I bought another set to see what the difference in sizes would yield. The whole setup cost me $1281.00 shipped to my door from Tirerack.com.
T
That’s a difference alright…





It was exactly what the car needed! (That’s NOT me in the background, BTW)
From there on, I started getting a little picky with the changes I would make; in particular with the suspension. Living less than 5 miles from the infamous Mulholland highway (did you guess right?) and all the other brilliant canyons surrounding the Santa Monica Mountains, the car absolutely had to handle. In order to optimize the contract patch of the front tires and battle the understeer, I ordered a pair camber bolts from Ingalls. I installed them the week before the wheels and tires arrived so that the $100 alignment wouldn’t be wasted. I set the camber to -1.2 degrees in the front and all I can say is...WOW!!! What a difference!!! I knew it would feel better, but that that much! The grip bias is totally front dominant now; good for an FF car. Steering felt better too! More responsive with less input required. Completely changed the way the car handled and gripped. For $45, these little cammed bolts are easily at the top of my “Top Ten Reasonably Priced Mods” list.

I also installed a set of these around the same time…


EBC YellowStuff pads with R1 Premium rotors! I love these things. I had the Redstuffs prior and liked them too, but they quickly become useless once I scorched them one too many times. Still lasted a good two years though. The YellowStuffs however, are a league above. These are, by a mile, the best all-around pads I’ve ever come in contact with. They may not stop as hard as Hawk HP +, but when used in tandem with a good set of stainless steel brake lines (like the ones I got from stoptech) they are more consistent, they have better feel and release characteristics, strong initial cold bite and feel, last longer and are completely silent! I love these pads!

At $85 for a front set of pads and $115 for a 4-wheel set of Stoptech lines, both these mods also make my list of “Top Ten Reasonably Priced Mods.”

In addition, I wanted the car to have unique touches; the kind of thing that really shows the love and custom effort….



It’s a little hard to see in pictures, but yes, that’s a custom stitched roof liner. The process was long and tedious. After taking the headliner out of the car, it took me an additional 20 man hours and lots of foolish, bloody finger punctures with a needle to get the stitching done in a quality manor.





This started my interior theme of black with red stitching. I got my hands on some SE leather door panels as well as a leather shift boot, Redline Goods center arm rest and a custom gauge shroud in the same style.




(2013) Seat Reupholstering. This was probably one of my favorite changes I made to the car. I always hated the gritty, black and grey cloth seats that came in the car. The SE leather from the ‘07 tibs was like eye candy to me, so when I found a set for sale in the FS section, I had to jump on it. I bought the leather skins from YZrider143, and shortly after, these were waiting for me at home.



Great! Now for the hard part. Time to remove the seats from the car, tear them apart, and reupholster them. This was beyond tedious. Since I needed to get to work, I had to only do one seat at a time so I could still drive the car. Even still, taking the seats chassis apart was pretty simple. I just followed the DIY on this site. The downside: I broke one of the seat backs. That sucked.



The skins come right off once you get all the clips off. But now comes the really hard part. These damn hog rings are everywhere, and they are even harder to get back on once you fit the new leather. There is no clip on and off. You have to bend the metal using pliers or a screwdriver. Bane of my existence these things were…



Fortunately, once you get the technique down, it’s not that hard a task. After a few minutes of swearing, the skins came right off.



As do the cushions themselves…



Do everything in reverse and WAHLA!



Absolutely gorgeous. You can see where I broke the top of the plastic backing on this one....and there's a kitty. : )

They look great in the car, but somethings bugging me. That damn broken backing has got to go!! Originally I had wanted to wrap them in carbon fiber, but threw out that idea because of the air bags. The backings are designed to break away when the airbags deploy. Turning those into a solid shell could possibly compromise safety by redirecting the airbag into my back instead of outward. I still wanted to cover up that ugly plastic though, so…I compromised and used some CF vinyl from 3M. One 3x3 sheet covers the entire seatback. I’m not one to fake things, but this looked sweet so I kept it. Nuff said. They almost look real in this picture…



Shortly after, I bought a red leather OEM 5 speed knob to top it all off.




And now comes the part of our story that gets a little bit sad…
In February 2013, while leaving the parking lot at work in Van Nuys, some bloke and I collided with each other. I was reversing and he was driving through the lot. Despite looking both ways, I wasn’t thorough enough and I didn’t see him coming. Well, we hit and it sucked. Technically my fault = double suck.



The security guard who witnessed it said that he thought the other guy was speeding, but it’s private property so that basically counts for nothing. Here’s a close up of the damage. If the paint looks new, that’s ‘cause it is. Remember how the paint was fading before? I bit the bullet and had the rear end painted not even a month prior. ….Ballz.



Fortunately, there was a bright side. AAA would pay for a new rear end, and the other guy had got it worse than me!!! MWAHAHAA!! Two weeks later and she was good as new.



That was only the beginning. The next week, my radiator started cracking and spitting coolant everywhere. What’s one to do!?


That’s a Koyo all aluminum dual core radiator. I absolutely love this thing! Fit and finish is perfect. It’s beautiful, allows for mounting of the original fans, and unlike the Mishimoto, requires no modifying or grinding to fit. It’s a perfect OEM replacement. Installation was not bad, but was a bit of a squeeze due to the size of the core. Totally worth it though. We installed a new thermostat and hoses as well.


We pulled the hoses off, opened the top cap to drain the sucker and waited…about 10 seconds. Lol. This is all the coolant that came out….about a quart and a half with a dash of leaves!



I was surprised. I knew I had lost coolant, but not THAT much! The car hadn’t even over heated once while driving home. Must’ve been the cold weather?
Here’s the KOYORAD in comparison to the OEM.






All done! I can’t tell you how much I love this thing. On cold nights cruising home down the mountain, if I put the car in neutral and coast the temperature gauge falls like a stone! I’ve seen it as low as 150 F!! For $less than $350.00, this mod makes the cut for my list of “Top Ten Reasonably Priced Mods.”

So that was one battle over. The NEXT week, the fuel return line blew on the 101 and the car nearly went up in smoke!! The fire department had to show up before I could have the car towed! Oye…


Then two weeks later, in the same lot as before, a utility truck hit my car while backing up…and then ran for it. When I came outside for lunch, I found this…



I freaked out at first because I thought maybe my brand new radiator was damaged, but that fear faded when I got up close. Then I freaked out for real! A few calls to AAA and the body shop I used to work at and a new FL front end was soon to be!!

If only I could avoid other people for the time being…


Seriously!? A third hit in the same lot in the same month?! Turns out it was the new valet that did it. Problem is, they pack up and leave the campus after 6pm. I filed a report, to which they basically said “since we were not here when you resumed procession of your car, we don’t claim responsibility.” Basically gave me the big F U. So instead of calling up AAA and paying ANOTHER $250 deductible, I called up a friend who works at a body shop. We pulled that sucker out for the most part, but it’s still slightly visible. A small reminder of my utter hatred for valets. My anger was soon forgotten though, as the car soon underwent the FL conversion.



In an attempt to make it look a bit different, I added this GT badge from the Elantra. Complete. Satisfaction.

This past summer of 2013, I noticed that my rear trans mount was torn quite badly. So, after patrolling the for-sale thread, I acquired a set of kspec motor mounts from two separate members here on NT. The rear is a full poly solid mount, unlike the front which is hollow polyurethane. The yellow insert in the picture was sold later. These really helped a lot. Contrary to popular belief and advertising, these do not put more power to the ground, but they do significantly change the way the engine responds to your imputes. Shifting feels a lot more direct than before with the torn mount and the throttle response is fabulous. At the same time, I also installed some polyurethane shifter cable bushings and TWM shifter base bushings. Highly recommended, especially for the price. All three of these are included on my list of “Top Ten Reasonably Priced Mods.”




That's all I have for now, but I will be updating periodically with new updates. I have many new pieces that are pending installation, so as soon as they're on Ill update this thread.

Here's a complete list of the modifications to date (3/6/2014)

Exterior

- FL Front end conversion bumper (missing fog lights for future ducting)
- FL conversion head lights
- OEM badging removal / “Tuscani” badges
- Tail light signal red-outs
- ASA GT-5 wheels (17x8. 42 offset)
- Black painted rear diffusor

Interior/Audio

- Tinted door lights
- GT leather door inserts
- Aluminum A/C rings and pedals
- “Tuscani” ignition ring
- Carbon Fiber mission plate
- SE OEM Red leather shift knob
- Black leather, red stitched shift boot
- Redline Goods leather center armrest
- 07 SE Red/Black leather seats (Front and Rear)
- 3M 1080 Carbon Fiber vinyl seat backs
- Custom red stitched roof liner
- Custom black leather, red stitched gauge shroud
- Pioneer DEH 4400 HD Stereo deck w/ Rocketfish light-up USB cable (Cheesy, but still cool! Lol)

Performance

- KOYORAD Aluminum Dual Core Radiator
- Ebay Cold Air Intake
- Evofusion 2nd generation cat-back dual exhaust
- Kspec polyurethane front/rear engine/trans. mounts
- Polyurethane shifter cable bushings
-TWM shifter base bushings
- Ultra Racing front strut bar
- LUXON rear chassis brace
- ARK ST-P coilovers
- Moog tie rod ends
- Moog front end links
- Nolathane Australia Front Control Arm Polyurethane Bushings
- OEM fully adjustable rear control arm setup w/ Ya-Ya Polyurethane Control Arm Bushings
- 19mm Rear Sway Bar OEM Upgrade
- Energy Suspension polyurethane sway bar bushings
- Ingalls camber bolts (front)
- ASA 17x8 wheels w/ 225/45/17 tires
- Stoptech slotted brake rotors (front/rear)
- EBC YellowStuff brake pads (front/rear)
- Stoptech stainless steel brake lines (front/rear)
- Castrol GT-LMA DOT 4 brake fluid
- Custom rotor mounted brake ducting

“Top Ten List of Reasonably Priced Mods.”

- Ingalls Camber Bolts <-- Allows for vastly increased lateral tire grip.
- Ebay Cold Air Intake <-- Opens up the restrictive intake system for more powa!
- EBC YellowStuff brake pads <-- Ups the stopping power and endurance of your OEM brakes
- Polyurethane Motor Mounts <-- Minimizes engine and trans movement under all conditions.
- Polyurethane shifter cable bushings <-- Reduces slop in the shifter for more connected shifts.
- TWM Aluminum shifter base bushings <-- Further improves the gated feeling in the gear shift .
- Stoptech stainless steel brake lines <-- Allows for better brake pedal feel.
- KOYORAD Aluminum Dual Core Radiator <-- Much more effective cooling and looks [email protected]$$ under hood.
- 19mm Rear Sway Bar OEM Upgrade <-- Cheap, simple mod to improve balance and handling.
- LUXON rear chassis brace <-- Drastically increases torsional stiffness in the rear of the car.

Future Modifications
- New front control arms with new bushings and ball joints


These bad boys are going to get some new spice added as well. I wanted Ya-Ya’s suspension kit, but they are no longer in production. Happily, these are still being made in Australia and are even better quality than the Ya-Ya’s!




At deck for the rear, we have OEM adjustable control arms that will also be adorned with poly bushings. I'm replacing the old solid control arms because one of them is slightly tweaked and is causing alignment issues. Putting in another pair of adjustables will allow me a full range of adjustability in the rear. In addition, the poly bushings that iIll be using ARE from the Ya-Ya kit. I got them from @Elricdelyon in France. His sweet build is getting Ingalls smart arms, so he didn’t need the rear bushing as they don’t fit the Ingalls arms. Fine by me!



I’ve also got an UltraRacing four point underbrace stashed away along with another set of R1 rotors and YellowStuff pads. I can’t wait to get all of this stuff in and get (another) alignment! I'll probably order am Ultraracing rear strut bar sometime down the road because the Mussa one is...less than desirable.

Last but not least, here are the most current pictures I have of my tib. Enjoy!










Not a current pic, but I had to include this one.